Student Voting Guide | Washington
Registration
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/ (registration form available online)
https://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/secure/Pages/OnlineVoterRegistration.aspx (online registration)
The registration deadline is 29 days before the election.[1] You may also register to vote online by this deadline if you have a Washington driver’s license or ID. Registrations submitted in-person are allowed after this deadline, up to the seventh day before the election; however, if you register after the 29th day before the election, you are only eligible to vote absentee.[2] You may register to vote and vote in a primary election if you will be 18 by the next general election.[3]
Residency
Under Washington law, your residency for voting is your permanent address, the place where you physically live and where you maintain your home.[4] The Attorney General has specifically stated that with respect to students going to school in Washington, if you have no intention of returning to your parents’ home but do not know where you plan to move after school, you are able to register and vote in Washington.[5] All you need is the intent to remain in your school community “indefinitely for an appreciable period of time,” which can be until you graduate.[6]
At School. Washington students should be able to register and vote at their school address if they do not intend to return to the place they lived before school, and if they consider their school community to be their residence while they attend school—even if they are not clear on their post-school plans.
At Home. Students who lived in Washington before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Washington voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ Washington address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Washington allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your Washington residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Effect on Driver’s Licenses. Under Washington law, you must get a Washington state driver’s license within 30 days from the date you became a Washington resident.[7] Your voter registration can be used as evidence that you are a Washington resident for these purposes.
Challenges to Residency. Washington presumes that you are qualified to vote if you register to vote.[8] The law thus makes it difficult to challenge a voter’s eligibility based on residency. Your eligibility can only be challenged by a signed affidavit (subject to penalties of perjury) filed at any time by another registered voter or by the county prosecuting attorney, or filed on Election Day by the poll site judge or inspector.[9] In order to legally challenge your eligibility, the challenger must provide substantial evidence to show that you actually live somewhere other than where you claimed to live—not just that your school residence is impermanent.[10] If your eligibility to vote is challenged, you are entitled to notice and a hearing to determine your eligibility.[11] The hearing will be before the county auditor, unless it is filed within 45 days of an election, in which case it will be before the county canvassing board.[12] You may seek judicial review by the superior court of the decision of the county auditor or canvassing board.[13]
Identification
Most Washington voters vote by mail. For those who vote by mail, the only voters who must provide ID are first-time voters who registered by mail and who have not had a driver’s license or Social Security number verified. (These voters can provide their ID after the election.) Voters who vote in person are required to show ID.
Only one county in Washington maintains polling places, but all voters in this county who vote at the polls are required to show ID at the polls.[14] Acceptable forms of ID include any valid photo ID or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or government check or other government document.[15] Student IDs are accepted.[16] Cell phone bills and online printouts are accepted at the discretion of the poll worker.[17] If you do not have ID, you can vote a provisional ballot, which will be counted if the signature on your ballot matches your registration signature.[18]
If you vote absentee or by mail, you will have to verify your identity.[19] One way to do this is to provide identifying numbers on your registration form, such as a Washington driver’s license or non-driver’s ID number, or the last four digits of your Social Security number.[20] After you provide these numbers, the state will attempt to verify your identity by comparing the information you provide on your registration application with data in the motor vehicle or Social Security database. Another way to verify your identity is to submit a copy of one of the above listed forms of ID to the election office; you must do this at least one day before the election results are officially certified (nineteen days after a general election, or ten days after a primary or special election).[21] If the state cannot successfully match your identifying numbers to the appropriate government database, you will have to provide ID before the election is certified (as described above).
Vote by Mail and Absentee Voting
Almost all of Washington’s counties conduct elections by mail, rather than maintaining polling sites.[22] Currently only Pierce County (Tacoma) maintains polling sites.[23] If you live in Pierce County, you have to request an absentee ballot; you can also become a permanent absentee voter and always vote by mail.[24] If you are not a permanent absentee voter, your absentee ballot request for a specific election has to be received by the day before the election, either by mail or by calling the county election office.[25]
If you are registered to vote in a vote-by-mail county, your ballot will automatically be mailed at least 18 days before Election Day.[26] You should make sure that your county election office has your current mailing address, so you will receive your ballot.
In all counties, you can return your ballot by dropping it at a designated ballot drop site, by submitting it to the county election office, or by mail.[27] If you mail in your ballot, it must be postmarked by Election Day.[28] Ballots that are dropped off at a designated drop site or at the county election office must be received by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.[29]
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.140(1)(a) (2010).
[2] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.140(1)(b).
[3] FairVote, “Voter Age and Registration,” available at http://www.fairvote.org/youth-preregistration-fact-sheet.
[4] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.04.151.
[5] Op. Wash. Att’y Gen. No. 10 (1971).
[6] Op. Wash. Att’y Gen. No. 10 (1971).
[7] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 46.20.021(1).
[8] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.810(1).
[9] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.810(2).
[10] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.810(3).
[11] See Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.820.
[12] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.820.
[13] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.08.840(6).
[14] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.44.205.
[15] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.44.205.
[16] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.44.205.
[17] Interview with Christina Rhodes, Customer Service Specialist, Washington Secretary of State’s office (May 14, 2008).
[18] Wash. Admin. Code § 434-253-047(7).
[19] See Wash. Assoc. of Churches v. Reed, No. CV06-0726RSM, Stipulated Order and Final Judgment (Mar. 16, 2007), available at http://www.brennancenter.org/page/-/d/download_file_48236.pdf (last visited on April 27, 2010).
[21] Id.
[22] See Washington Secretary of State, “Frequently Asked Questions on Voting by Mail,” available at http://secstate.wa.gov/elections/faq_vote_by_mail.aspx (last visited Feb. 4, 2008).
[23] Id.
[24] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.40.020.
[25] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.40.020(1).
[26] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.48.070(1).
[27] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.48.050.
[28] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.48.050.
[29] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 29A.48.050.
